New Adventures in Free Motion

Sometimes the practice is a pleasing surprise. Free motion embroidery or quilting is NOT supposed to look like this, but still - interesting!

For more on free motion sewing go to this really amazing website: The Free Motion Quilting Project. She has all you will ever need.

TV Project 1: Kimono Coasters

Kimono silk is just something I can't resist, it's sexy makes me think of geisha.  It's also awkward to work with, since it is so sheer and thin.  I like to always have a project on the go that I can do while watching TV. So this is my TV project du jour.   

NOTE: The instructions for the rosettes can also be used to make the ones you saw on the boudoir pillow.  Imagine a pillow with kimono silks! Ooh la la, get your Valentine's horny on!

Level: Beginner
Time: 2 hours per coaster
Cost: $2 (approximately
Materials and Tools:
Hexagon template, size: 1 inch per side
Kimono silk scraps (or scraps of cotton quilt weight fabric) in three different patterns in similar colors.
1/2 yard of grey felt
Thread in contrasting color and matching color
Pins
Scrap paper
Needle
Iron
Scissors for fabric
Scissors for paper

- First cut seven hexagons out of scrap paper
- You are going to need one hexagon from one patterned fabric then three each from two additional patterns
- Place your paper hexagon onto the wrong side of your chosen fabric and pin in place
- Cut around the hexagon with a quarter inch seam allowance
- Fold the fabric seam over the paper and tack all the way round with the contrasting thread
- Remove pin
- Do this with all seven hexagons
- The one hexagon cut from a different fabric to the other six is the center of the rosette
- Take this hexagon and a hexagon of another pattern place them with right sides facing each other and sew the seams together with whip stitch
- Continue doing this until you have all six hexagons of alternating pattern sewn to the center one
- Iron your rosette so the seams are nice and sharp
- Remove the paper from the center hexagon and pin to the felt
- Cut out the felt so that the rosette is pinned to smaller piece of felt with some excess fabric around it.
- Remover one paper from an outer hexagon and pin to the fabric with the seam folded under
- Sew the edge with a running stitch
- Do this hexagon by hexagon until all edges are sewn to the felt
- Trim off the excess felt
- Press with iron
- DONE

Spring Update

Our living room, photo taken from the balcony above.


It seems as if the only time I post on my much-neglected blog is to explain why I have been away for so long! Yes, my life has been through various transitions over the last 3 years, multiple moves, jobs and plans.
Now I am finally, finally settled. No more renting, or living out of boxes. No more work spaces in closets and struggles to start a craft business.

My husband and I firmly ensconced in the house of our dreams, truly, and in the process of making it our own. Given the travels from UK, to Zambia (Africa), to here: Asheville, NC, US, settling and getting the house exactly as we want it is going to take some time. But isn't that part of the fun?

The house we have bought is spectacular (there, I have said it) open plan, LEED certified and beautifully modern. More pictures to come. The slightly industrial and minimalist style matches our taste and we have been happily buying vintage pieces to give it that mid-century modern flair.

It is this new house and our homemaking that spurred me to give this blog a bit of a make over. So 'For the Love Of' has been retired, to be replaced with the somewhat flamboyant name of 'The Modernist Craft Movement'. Why? Well as much as I love crafts, it is hard when quilting, embroidering and whatnot to create pieces that are contemporary and not-quaint. So I am on a mission, to embark on craft projects that I love as well as create things that I would have happily in my own house or on my own body!

Think of this blog as a work in progress (aren't all blogs?), an electronic notebook that I am sharing with whoever drops by. Please leave comments if you are inclined, it's nice to know that one is not typing into cold cyberspace, only to be lost in the millions of other craft sites out there!

The Easiest Dress - Ever!

I am really a dressmaking novice so I wanted to make the simplest dress that would require no zips (my achilles heel) and no darts (haven't learned how to do them yet). I am also lax at measuring so this is a one size fits all. I gave it shape with a belt made from the same fabric. Without the belt it kind of looks like a night dress and I could easily make one with appropriate fabric. I didn't really have a pattern I just made a basic dress outline that I used for the front and back. My sister-in-law and mother-in-law both asked me where I bought it, which is a very good litmus test of how successful it is. The worst thing is if a dress looks 'homemade', this is where your careful seaming and trimming of threads becomes crucial.

razor blade hairband

razor blade hairband, a photo by liz_watkin on Flickr.

I have recently been working on some new fabric designs. Here's a razor blade pattern that have produced using the wonderful Spoonflower.

New Zakka Bag!

Working on a Zakka inspired satchel, stay tuned for more, pictures in the next few days - Zambian internet permitting!!!

Paper Piecing How To

I know a few months ago I gave a few pointers on paper piecing but I don’t think there is any harm in going over them again.
I generally use paper piecing for basic repetitive patterns but they can also be used for patchwork blocks. In particular if you have a block you want to copy but you don’t have the measurements, method etc. Paper piecing makes this easy because you don’t need to work out seam allowances.

You will need:
Cardboard for your template/s (for example old cereal boxes)
Scrap paper (magazines or newspapers work well)
Scissors
Tape
A thick pen
Needle and thread
pins
Scraps of fabric

First make your template:
The triangle I am using I made by using a rectangle of cardboard, placing it lengthways, find the middle then drawing to lines from the bottom two corners on the shortest sides to the opposite side dead centre.

If you are making a number of templates for a block, number them and then number the block you have to make it easier to work out how to place them.

Tape the edges of your template so that when you draw around it, you don’t soften the edges. Alternatively you could use template plastic, which is available at quilt stores – or use plastic from packaging. I am trying to use as much recycled materials as I can, plus I don’t have a quilting store here!

Next, use your scrap paper to make the paper pieces by drawing around your template with the thick pen and cut out. Make a stack so you don’t have to keep going back to make more.

Pin the paper pieces to the wrong side of your fabric, leaving about ¼ inch space. Cut out the piece a ¼ inch away from the edge of the piece – very important, do not cut flush with the piece!

Fold the excess fabric over your paper and sew with a large tacking stitch to the paper.

When you have enough for all the stages or patterns you want, you can start assembling.

Place the fabric covered pieces right side to right side with the edges lines up and sew together with a small slip stitch. Check carefully that you have your pieces lined up correctly.

Keep going until you have your quilt. Easy!

Retro Applique Curtains

If you have been following the process of us decorating our house, you will know we are inspired by retro designs. These curtains really bring that side of the room out and I am pretty proud of them. I appliquéd the pattern onto the ecru curtains as the fabric itself is quite dark, and anyway the pieces were too short for the windows. I did them by hand and each curtain took a day to make. I played around with design a little bit first so I had my pieces in a pattern that I liked.

I simply drew a circle around each pattern with tailors chalk, cut them out at least a ¼ inch away from the outline, snipped the shape all the way around up to the chalk line, pinned the shape to the curtain, folded under the sections and sewed together with a running stitch in thread that matches the curtain. The curtains were then hung using my safety pin method.